Sometimes, as we’re researching a specific blog topic, or finding materials for a patron, we stumble across materials that aren’t relevant to our particular search. Today, we’d like to share some of those items with you, items that make us smile and that brighten our days.

For the Ohio Memory blog, we’ve written about the dairy industry, for example, and we shared a number of really wonderful images with that post. One particular favorite wasn’t shared, though: this one, which shows us that love comes in all shapes and sizes, even kitten- and calf-sizes! Other favorite pictures with animals include this one of a woman with chickens, and this one of a boy with a lamb and puppies… because who doesn’t love lambs and puppies?

Posed photograph by Harry Kinley, via Ohio Memory.

Ohio Memory features pictures of celebrations, too. Here’s one from a soap box derby; you can be sure that the driver in the forefront was celebrating not long after this picture was taken! Here’s a celebration of a different kind: members of Ohio’s 37th Infantry celebrating Christmas. Here’s one of Carol Cyrus, Ohioan and Miss Wheelchair America in 1976. And this series of eleven slides depicts an event that many Ohioans celebrate every year: the OSU/Michigan game. Another thing to celebrate: this November that series will be 120 years old!

Some of our materials depict people, often in silly situations. There’s this picture of a posed “stick-up,” and this one of teens taking a grooming course at Lazarus in the 1960s. Maybe this one of a group of men will make you laugh, or maybe you’ll laugh along with this group of girls. And there’s always this photo of people on the Blue Streak roller coaster at Cedar Point. Check out the expression on the face of the kid right in front–it’s a classic roller coaster expression, and one that makes us smile every time we see it!

Inscription to a “spinster exemplaire” from Books of Interest and Consolation to Spinsters.

Some of our blog posts have focused on topics that make us laugh, as well. In November, 2013, we published one called Hidden Mothers, Revealed!, where we shared one of the many insane steps moms will take to get just one decent picture of their children. A few months later, in March, 2014, we shared a particularly funny pamphlet entitled Books of Interest and Consolation to Spinsters, which lists titles like Why Love Grows Cold and How to be Happy Though Married.

There are so many more items we just love, and we hope that you enjoy them as much as we do! By the way, if you have a favorite Ohio Memory piece that we’ve missed, please share it! With thousands upon thousands of items in hundreds of collections, and with new materials being added every day, there’s sure to be something that we’ve overlooked. We’d love your feedback!

Thank you to Shannon Kupfer, Digital Initiatives Librarian at the State Library of Ohio, for this week’s post!